Rolex Explorer Ref. 1016

A watch born on Everest

By 1953 the Rolex Oyster Perpetual already had a name for being a rugged, water-resistant, self-winding wristwatch. That year Rolex sponsored the British expedition that put Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay on the summit of Mount Everest in late May, supplying a watch that was to be worn and then returned for testing. The goal was a mountaineer's tool watch that could cope with the cold and the thin air of high altitude.

Whether a Rolex actually reached the top is disputed. Smiths, an English brand, also sponsored the climb, and a published study of period evidence concluded that it was a Smiths watch, not the Rolex, that went all the way to the summit. The Rolex carried on the expedition, today considered a 'pre-Explorer', is displayed at a watch museum in Zurich. Either way, Rolex had registered the trademark for the Explorer name in January 1953 and capitalized on the expedition more than anyone.

Later in 1953 Rolex introduced reference 6350, the first watch to carry the word 'Explorer' on every dial. Its predecessor, the 6150, already had the 36mm case and the 3-6-9 numeral layout, but most examples read 'Precision' instead and it was not a chronometer. A Rolex advertisement of the period promised the Explorer would work 'under water to depths of at least 300 ft. and, in the air, to the fantastic height of 12 miles.' Between 1955 and 1959 the reference 6610 carried the design forward until the 1016 took over.

The 1016: a small change that lasted three decades

The 1016 arrived around 1960 with a new movement, the microstella-adjusted caliber 1560, and a new line on the dial: 'Superlative Chronometer Officially Certified.' A small number of the very earliest 1016s still carry the older 'Officially Certified Chronometer' text of the 6610. In the mid-1960s Rolex moved to the caliber 1570, which beats at 19,800 vibrations per hour against the 1560's 18,000, and in the early 1970s it added a hacking feature that stops the seconds hand when the time is set.

Everything else stayed put. The case was 36mm and steel, there was no date, and the dial kept its luminous 3, 6 and 9. That restraint is the point: a leading collector guide calls the 1016 the 'anti-hype Rolex,' the sport model that does not turn heads, and notes that it sits closer to a dress watch in size than any of the brand's other professional models.

The reference ran until 1989, when the 14270 replaced it with applied metal numerals, a glossy dial and the faster caliber 3000. Rolex kept the Explorer at 36mm until 2010, when it grew to 39mm with reference 214270, then returned to 36mm in 2021 with reference 124270.

Ian Fleming's Rolex

Ian Fleming, the creator of James Bond, wore a reference 1016 with a steel case and bracelet, black dial and Mercedes hands. Its case number is 596851, and it was made in the last quarter of 1960, which makes it one of the first 1016s. Researcher Dell Deaton identified it in 2009 as the likely model for the Rolex in the Bond books. Fleming's watch later had its dial replaced because of radiation concerns, so its original dial variant is unknown.

Bond first checks 'the Rolex watch on his wrist' in Live and Let Die (1954), before Fleming is known to have owned one. The fullest description comes in On Her Majesty's Secret Service, written in 1962 and published in 1963, by which time Fleming owned his Explorer: 'a heavy Rolex Oyster Perpetual on an expanding metal bracelet,' which Bond wraps around his knuckles and smashes against an opponent's jaw.

The watch passed to the son-in-law of Fleming's stepdaughter. It was shown at the Imperial War Museum in Britain in 2008 and 2009, and at a James Bond watch exhibition at the National Watch and Clock Museum in Columbia, Pennsylvania, from June 18, 2010, through April 30, 2011.

How to read a 1016 dial

Collectors split the 1016 into two families. Early dials are gilt: a galvanic process left the text and markers in gold tone under a glossy black lacquer. Around 1966-1967 Rolex switched to a cheaper matte dial with white printing. Collector research calls the gilt variations 'types' and the matte ones 'marks,' though in everyday use 'mark' covers both.

The gilt dials are where the small tells live. Early 1960s dials keep a printed chapter ring around the minute track. Some have an 'exclamation point,' a small dot of lume under the 6, thought to signal lower radioactivity. Others have an underline beneath the chronometer text, understood to indicate tritium. A few 1963 examples show both, a combination seen on the Explorer but not on Submariners or GMT-Masters. Later gilt dials drop the chapter ring and add 'T<25' at the bottom.

The matte dials run from Mark 1 to Mark 5. The Mark 1, found from about 1967 to 1974, is called the 'Frog Foot' for its splayed Rolex coronet. The Mark 4 has a tall, thin coronet nicknamed 'Gumby.' The Mark 5, from about 1981 to 1987, has E's in 'Explorer' with off-center middle bars. The Mark 3 appears in two stretches, about 1974-1976 and again from about 1984 to the end in 1989.

Dating is approximate. Inside-caseback dates record case production, not sale, and Rolex stopped stamping them in the mid-1970s. Serial numbers between the lugs are the best guide. Buyers are also warned about 34mm 'Explorers' built from Air-King reference 5500 cases with fake dials; genuine 34mm Explorer 5500s exist, but they say 'Precision' and are not chronometers.

Watches with stories

Because the 1016 was made for so long and worn so hard, individual watches often come with a biography. One gilt 'exclamation point' example belonged to a cartographer in the Corps of Royal Engineers who took it on surveying trips to more than 30 countries; an icebreaker's hull dented its case in Alert, Nunavut. Another was given to bull rider Gary Leffew for winning at the 1969 Calgary Stampede and appeared in a Rolex print ad; a few years later a bull stepped on it and smashed the crystal.

A 1016 from about 1960 went to Antarctica with Graham Blyth on the 27th South African National Antarctic Expedition. Rolex required Blyth to insure the watch, report on it and return it for testing afterward. It sold at auction in May 2013 for 37,500 Swiss francs.

The arts patron Rachel 'Bunny' Mellon bought eight 1016s with 'Tiffany & Co.' on the dial, six engraved with her initials 'R.L.M.' The story goes that they were gifts for a dinner party that was canceled and that the watches went into a drawer. They sold at auction in New York in November 2014 after her death, all but one for under $20,000. One of them, engraved 'Thomas Reed With Appreciation R.L.M. 1981,' resold at auction in December 2022 for $40,320. An account of that later sale counts seven Mellon Explorers in the 2014 auction, not eight.

The numbers

Reference

1016

Caliber

1560 (18,000 vph), then 1570 (19,800 vph) from the mid-1960s

Case

36mm, stainless steel

Production

1960 to 1989

Dial families

Gilt types (to about 1966-1967); matte Marks 1-5

Timeline

1. Jan 1953

   Rolex registers the trademark for the Explorer name.

2. May 1953

   Hillary and Tenzing reach the summit of Everest on an expedition Rolex helped sponsor.

3. 1953

   Reference 6350 becomes the first watch with 'Explorer' on every dial.

4. 1955

   Reference 6610 enters production, running until 1959.

5. 1960

   Reference 1016 begins, with the caliber 1560 and 'Superlative Chronometer' dial text.

6. 1960

   Ian Fleming's 1016, case number 596851, is made in the last quarter of the year.

7. 1963

   On Her Majesty's Secret Service is published, with Bond's 'heavy Rolex Oyster Perpetual on an expanding metal bracelet.'

8. 1966

   Rolex applies in Switzerland to trademark 'Space-Dweller,' the name on a Japan-market variant of the 1016.

9. 1967

   Around 1966-1967 the gilt dial gives way to the matte dial.

10. 1969

    Bull rider Gary Leffew wins a 1016 at the Calgary Stampede.

11. 1989

    The 1016 ends after about 29 years and is replaced by reference 14270.

12. Jun 18, 2010

    Fleming's Explorer goes on display at the National Watch and Clock Museum in Columbia, Pennsylvania, through April 30, 2011.

13. 2010

    Rolex enlarges the Explorer to 39mm with reference 214270.

14. May 2013

    Graham Blyth's Antarctic expedition 1016 sells at auction for 37,500 Swiss francs.

15. Nov 2014

    Bunny Mellon's Tiffany-signed 1016s sell at auction in New York.

16. Dec 2020

    A 1963 gilt 'exclamation point' 1016 with tropical dial sells at auction for $25,200.

17. 2021

    Rolex returns the Explorer to 36mm with reference 124270.

18. Dec 13, 2022

    A Mellon Tiffany-signed 1016 resells at auction for $40,320.

The world in 1960

• Jan 1960

  Jacques Piccard and Don Walsh take the bathyscaphe Trieste to the bottom of the Mariana Trench.

• Mar 22, 1960

  Arthur Schawlow and Charles Townes receive the first patent for a laser.

• May 1, 1960

  A U-2 spy plane is shot down over the Soviet Union and pilot Francis Gary Powers is captured.

• May 13, 1960

  A Swiss and Austrian expedition makes the first ascent of Dhaulagiri, the world's seventh-highest mountain.

• May 22, 1960

  The Valdivia earthquake in Chile, the most powerful on record, strikes.

• Sep 10, 1960

  Abebe Bikila wins the Olympic marathon in Rome running barefoot.

• Nov 8, 1960

  John F. Kennedy is elected president of the United States.

Price record

A realized auction price is what a buyer actually paid on the date shown, including the buyer's premium where the sale reported it. It is the strongest kind of reference price, and it is a record of one sale of one object on one day, not a promise of what the next example will bring.

By reference price, Rolex Explorer Ref. 1016 is number 77 of 100 in the watches entries of the FLOAT 100. 54 of those 100 rest on a realized sale; the rest carry an asking price or a guide value, and each page says which. Rank within the FLOAT 100 itself (18 here) is editorial: how much an object defines its field, not price alone.

Did you know

• A period Rolex ad claimed the Explorer would work underwater to at least 300 feet and in the air up to 12 miles high.
• Rolex was not the only watch sponsor on Everest in 1953: the English brand Smiths was too, and one study of period evidence concluded it was a Smiths that reached the summit.
• Fleming's own 1016 no longer has its original dial: it was replaced over radiation concerns.
• In On Her Majesty's Secret Service, James Bond uses his Rolex as a knuckleduster.
• A 1016 given to a Calgary Stampede bull-riding champion in 1969 later had its crystal smashed when a bull stepped on it.
• A Japan-market version of the 1016 says 'Space-Dweller' instead of 'Explorer.'
• The Explorer stayed at 36mm for 57 years before Rolex enlarged it in 2010, and went back to 36mm in 2021.